Warhawk makes a race of it

By BOB PUTNAM
Published October 20, 2005

	[Times photo: David Zentz]
	Seminoles' Heather Nicolosi trains with the boys cross country team for a showdown with Kerry Allen.

St. Petersburg's Kerry Allen is to girls cross country what Tom Brady is to football: both are so infuriatingly good that even aspiring to beat them seems to be an act of fatuous optimism.

Allen, a senior, has won just about every important regular-season meet, including three straight Pinellas County Athletic Conference titles.

But Allen might be looking over her shoulder when she tries to win her fourth conference title today at Taylor Park in Largo. She might even be looking at somebody in front of her.

That's because Seminole's Heather Nicolosi has been on her trail.

Plagued by stress fractures in her right leg and foot the past two years, Nicolosi bided her time in a pack, watching and waiting for the moment when she would be able to run stride-for-stride this season.

The moment came in the first meet this season. Nicolosi set an intimidating early pace in a win that was virtually a solo affair, and she savored each step. Nicolosi reached the top of the medal stand by beating her nemesis for the first time. Better still, she won in 19 minutes, 27 seconds, nearly a minute ahead.

At the Viking Invitational this month, Nicolosi proved her first win was not an aberration as she beat Allen again. Nicolosi ran like a clock , ticking off mile after mile in recod time. She finished in a personal-best 18:25. Allen's best this season was 19:16.

"In the last race against (Allen), I went out right from the beginning," Nicolosi said. "Kerry stayed with me for a good amount, but I made sure I kept a pretty good pace.

"I'm expecting a tougher race this time."

Because they are in different classifications, this is the last time Allen and Nicolosi will race each other.

"It'll definitely be a tough race," Allen said. "The first race, I beat myself up mentally. The second race I was satisfied with my time, but Heather was just faster at that point in the season. I wish we could have raced more this year, because she's such great competition."

In the boys race, Seminole is heavily favored to win the team title. But the race for individual honors should be interesting.

The Warhawks, ranked No. 1 in Class 3A by flrunners.com, have depth envied by other schools. They put those numbers to good use, often finishing races with the top six runners.

That changed at the Viking Invitational, where Northeast twins Jonathan and Matt Mott finished 1-2, respectively.

"I think we really surprised (Seminole) quite a bit in the last race," Jonathan said. "We trained all summer just thinking about beating them."

[Last modified October 20, 2005, 01:20:19]